Batopilas

By Kim Walker

At the bottom of a remote canyon in Mexico’s Sierra Madre lies the tiny village of Batopilas, a languid place that once thrived thanks to one of the country’s richest silver mines. Lavish haciendas and a beautiful cathedral adorned this lush oasis beside its namesake river.

Governor Alexander Shepherd traded American politics for Mexico’s silver in 1880 and moved his family, servants and chef to remote Batopilas to manage the mines. The descent into the canyon alone took eight days by mule.

Today the 50 mile (80 km) journey from Creel, a popular stop for tourists traversing the Copper Canyon by rail, takes eight hours by truck. The road, initially paved, winds through pine-forested mountains then abruptly turns to dust. Landslides litter the narrow lane, rutted with potholes, that zigzags down precipitous cliffs. Drivers honk at blind curves and reluctantly inch toward the abyss to create squeezable passing space when faced grille to grille with another truck or wobbling bus on dizzying switchbacks that drop 6,000 feet (1,800 meters). Passengers are free to enjoy the spectacular scenery, as gorges, craggy peaks and meandering rivers give way to a sloping desert studded with citrus trees and organpipe cactus.

Batopilas is considered the treasured jewel of the Copper Canyon. In this mining town where cowboys rumble through the plaza, two general supply stores, a jeweler, a handful of restaurants and a hurache sandal-maker line the town’s only street. Tourist accommodations are restored haciendas with flowering courtyards, shuttered windows, Moorish arches and Victorian antiques.

Across the river’s swinging bridge, Shepherd’s grand mansion is now a roofless ruin overtaken by dense shrubs and purple bougainvillea. In late afternoon, the sun strikes the terracotta structure with brilliant light and draws tourists toward the site. Walking through empty rooms once filled with antiques, and even a grand piano that Tarahumaras hand-carried from the canyon rim, gives one a renewed appreciation for the accessibility of modern life. The seclusion is unbelievable.

Away from town, trails lead up to deserted mines and hills with panoramic vistas, best done with a guide to prevent getting lost or trespassing highly protected agricultural plots. Tourists are free to wander perhaps the most entrancing place of all, the mysterious Lost Cathedral of Saveto. Isolated in a valley 30 minutes from town, a white triple-domed structure nestled in green rolling hills gleams like a fairy-tale castle. Nobody knows who built it, or why.

Jesuit priests had joined silver-chasing Spaniards in Batopilas by 1709, but wouldn’t have had reason to build a grand domed cathedral in Saveto, a good day’s journey on foot, when the only inhabitants were Tarahumara Indians who resisted organized religion and retreated deeper into the canyons to avoid interactions. Today, local children can’t solve the mystery, but will unlock the massive carved door to let tourists poke around the shadowy chambers.

Secrets lie buried in these canyon walls where elusive Tarahumaras still hide. Travelers who take the adventurous journey to Batopilas step back into time, into faded centuries where history, grandeur and intrigue are very much alive.

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